Update June 2023: The gravel road from the Rietvaly turnoff 9 km after Groot Marico has been fixed and graded and is passable once more in a normal sedan car. A reminder to drive slowly and you will arrive with all 4 tyres intact!

As you may have seen, we have started recommending that people travel to Tara Rokpa Centre via the bustling North-West town of Zeerust, which is a further 30-minute drive along the N4 highway from the village of Groot Marico. Zeerust is the commercial hub for the surrounding cattle, maize, citrus, tobacco farms, and chromite and fluorspar mines. It is also the last stop before the border with Botswana, an hour or so further along the N4.

The word zeerust, also zeerusty, has gained some infamy as a trope coined by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd in The Meaning of Liff, borrowed from this town. According to their definition, zeerust means “The particular kind of datedness which afflicts things that were originally designed to look futuristic”. Also called ‘Retro Futuristic’. Obviously, nothing to do with the town of Zeerust!

Zeerust was named after the Coetzee family, who owned the original farm, where it was established in 1868 as Coetzee’s Rust (“Rest” in Dutch). The name was later shortened to Zeerust. The Klein (“Little”) Marico runs through Zeerust, while the Groot (“Big”) Marico river through the hamlet of Groot Marico.

I guess one may describe Zeerust as a typical small South African town. It has the all-important Wimpy, meeting place with free wifi for the residents and volunteers of Tara’s valley. There are a number of low-end supermarket chains – Choppies, Shoprite, and a small Pick & Pay, – that supply the basics for the TRC kitchen. Nothing too luxurious, or exotic is to be had in these stores. There are a few Chinese discount stores where there are sometimes bargains to be had.  There are also Indian shops offering bargains, mostly dealing in cell phones and paraphernalia. Then there is the all-important NW Kooperasie winkel (“Co-op”), which supplies everything from animal feed to farm implements to tools of every shape and size.

At least once a week, Tanja, the TRC manager goes into town to do the necessary shopping for the TRC kitchen, as well as the various building and maintenance needs. This is where the ingenuity and canniness of the shopper come into play. Looking for the correct fitting for the non-standard TRC pipes at the three different hardware stores, assuming that the correct measurements were given in the first place. If not, this means another trip into Z  to return the fitting and get the appropriate size.

Also on the agenda for the trip to Z is a visit to the municipal dump site to off-load the TRC garbage that we cannot burn, recycle or repurpose at TRC. Here, the human recyclers vie with the baboons for the pickings. We do ask visitors to take their waste away with them so we don’t have to take it to Zeerust.

Something zeerusty about the Wimpy

One can lunch in Z, at the Wimpy in the “Zeerust Shopping Centre” at 52 Church Street (the main road of all South African towns is called Church street). Or you could get a takeaway Nandos, KFC, or Steers burger. For a treat, there is a Tea Garden, and for a special occasion, the Bush Lodge. Here steak and chips are the main menu items. Vegetarians and vegans, the gluten-free and the organic foodies are like visitors from another planet at these establishments. I am not saying you would not be welcomed, and if you ever find yourself here, I am sure they will do their best to feed you well, even if it is only the South African version of a Greek salad. Wimpy does have avo toast, though.

After a big day out in Z, most people are very happy to leave town and head back to the relative peace of Tara’s valley. It is an easy 45-minute drive back to relative sanity along the “Old Koster” road. This is a tarred road, with only a short section on a gravel road. The potholes do occasionally get repaired by the local farmers. However there are still enough potholes to keep you wide awake.

I leave you here with the magnetic sounds of the universe, captured by the #Swarm mission of the European Space Agency and converted into sound. A little zeerusty maybe.

Sylva

October 2022